Origin of heavy rare earth mineralization in South China

Cheng Xu; Jindrich Kynicky; Martin Smith; Antonin Kopriva; Martin Brtnicky; Tomas Urubek; Yueheng Yang; Zheng Zhao; Chen He; Wenlei Song

doi:10.1038/ncomms14598

Origin of heavy rare earth mineralization in South China

Cheng Xu, Jindrich Kynicky, Martin Smith, Antonin Kopriva, Martin Brtnicky, Tomas Urubek, Yueheng Yang, Zheng Zhao, Chen He, Wenlei Song

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Heavy rare earth elements (HREE) are dominantly mined from the weathering crusts of granites in South China. Although weathering processes occur globally, no economic HREE resources of this type have yet been found outside China. Here, we report the occurrence of unidentified REE minerals in the granites from South Chinese deposits. They contain high levels of both HREE and light REE, but are strongly depleted in Ce, implying high oxidation state. These REE minerals show higher initial Nd isotope ratio than primary REE-rich minerals (eNd(t)=0.9±0.8 versus -11.5±0.5). The mineralized weathering crusts inherited REE signature of the granites, but show more Ce depletion and more overall concentration of the REE. We propose, therefore, that highly oxidized, REE-rich fluids, derived from external, isotopically depleted sources, metasomatized the granites, which resulted in Ce depletion as Ce4+ and enrichment of the remaining REE, especially the HREE, contributing to formation of a globally important REE resource.

Original language	English
Article number	14598
Pages (from-to)	1-7
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14598
Publication status	Published - 21 Feb 2017

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© The Author(s) 2017. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Martin Smith
- Applied Geosciences Research and Enterprise Group
- Centre for Aquatic Environments
Person: Academic

Cite this

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title = "Origin of heavy rare earth mineralization in South China",

abstract = "Heavy rare earth elements (HREE) are dominantly mined from the weathering crusts of granites in South China. Although weathering processes occur globally, no economic HREE resources of this type have yet been found outside China. Here, we report the occurrence of unidentified REE minerals in the granites from South Chinese deposits. They contain high levels of both HREE and light REE, but are strongly depleted in Ce, implying high oxidation state. These REE minerals show higher initial Nd isotope ratio than primary REE-rich minerals (eNd(t)=0.9±0.8 versus -11.5±0.5). The mineralized weathering crusts inherited REE signature of the granites, but show more Ce depletion and more overall concentration of the REE. We propose, therefore, that highly oxidized, REE-rich fluids, derived from external, isotopically depleted sources, metasomatized the granites, which resulted in Ce depletion as Ce4+ and enrichment of the remaining REE, especially the HREE, contributing to formation of a globally important REE resource.",

author = "Cheng Xu and Jindrich Kynicky and Martin Smith and Antonin Kopriva and Martin Brtnicky and Tomas Urubek and Yueheng Yang and Zheng Zhao and Chen He and Wenlei Song",

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AU - Xu, Cheng

AU - Kynicky, Jindrich

AU - Smith, Martin

AU - Kopriva, Antonin

AU - Brtnicky, Martin

AU - Urubek, Tomas

AU - Yang, Yueheng

AU - Zhao, Zheng

AU - He, Chen

AU - Song, Wenlei

N1 - © The Author(s) 2017. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

PY - 2017/2/21

Y1 - 2017/2/21

N2 - Heavy rare earth elements (HREE) are dominantly mined from the weathering crusts of granites in South China. Although weathering processes occur globally, no economic HREE resources of this type have yet been found outside China. Here, we report the occurrence of unidentified REE minerals in the granites from South Chinese deposits. They contain high levels of both HREE and light REE, but are strongly depleted in Ce, implying high oxidation state. These REE minerals show higher initial Nd isotope ratio than primary REE-rich minerals (eNd(t)=0.9±0.8 versus -11.5±0.5). The mineralized weathering crusts inherited REE signature of the granites, but show more Ce depletion and more overall concentration of the REE. We propose, therefore, that highly oxidized, REE-rich fluids, derived from external, isotopically depleted sources, metasomatized the granites, which resulted in Ce depletion as Ce4+ and enrichment of the remaining REE, especially the HREE, contributing to formation of a globally important REE resource.

AB - Heavy rare earth elements (HREE) are dominantly mined from the weathering crusts of granites in South China. Although weathering processes occur globally, no economic HREE resources of this type have yet been found outside China. Here, we report the occurrence of unidentified REE minerals in the granites from South Chinese deposits. They contain high levels of both HREE and light REE, but are strongly depleted in Ce, implying high oxidation state. These REE minerals show higher initial Nd isotope ratio than primary REE-rich minerals (eNd(t)=0.9±0.8 versus -11.5±0.5). The mineralized weathering crusts inherited REE signature of the granites, but show more Ce depletion and more overall concentration of the REE. We propose, therefore, that highly oxidized, REE-rich fluids, derived from external, isotopically depleted sources, metasomatized the granites, which resulted in Ce depletion as Ce4+ and enrichment of the remaining REE, especially the HREE, contributing to formation of a globally important REE resource.

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